Mainstream Bitcoin – Virtual Mining Bitcoin Newshttp://virtualmining.com
News & Events for the Bitcoin CurrencyTue, 06 Feb 2018 05:25:14 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.3Bitcoin and ethereum suffered massive drops, but many cryptocurrencies are faring even worsehttp://virtualmining.com/bitcoin-and-ethereum-suffered-massive-drops-but-many-cryptocurrencies-are-faring-even-worse/
Wed, 17 Jan 2018 10:45:31 +0000http://virtualmining.com/bitcoin-and-ethereum-suffered-massive-drops-but-many-cryptocurrencies-are-faring-even-worse/Read more »]]>Most major digital currencies sold off sharply on Tuesday, but the declines in bitcoin, ethereum and litecoin prices weren’t as bad as much of the rest of the market.

All of the top 20 digital currencies — by market value — suffered double digit losses over the last 24 hours, according to data from industry website CoinMarketCap.

For example, ripple was down 19 percent, bitcoin cash was down 13 percent, iota was down nearly 20 percent and monero was almost 15 percent as of 9 a.m. London time.

In fact, at their low point on the day, many cryptocurrencies with large market caps saw their prices essentially halved.

Bitcoin was down 17 percent at that time, ethereum was down 13 percent and litecoin was down 14 percent, according to the same site. These cryptocurrencies were down a lot more earlier in the day and appear to have stabilized.

The declines followed speculation in the market about what regulators in Asia may be planning for digital tokens.

On Monday, a report from Bloomberg, citing unnamed sources, said Beijing plans to block domestic access to Chinese and offshore cryptocurrency platforms that allow centralized trading.

On Tuesday, Reuters further reported that a senior Chinese central banker said authorities should ban centralized trading of virtual currencies as well as individuals and businesses that provide related services.

That, according to Martinez, was on top of the “additional negative sentiments from South Korea stating that tighter crypto-controls are still a possibility.”

Bitcoin was down 11.43 percent over the last day — at $10,924 — at 9 a.m. London time on Coinbase

Coinbase is the leading U.S. marketplace for trading bitcoin, ethereum, litecoin and bitcoin cash.

Late Tuesday afternoon, bitcoin briefly dropped below $10,000 on Coinbase, after first topping the psychologically key level in late November. In December, the cryptocurrency managed to top $19,800. But still, bitcoin remains more than 1100 percent higher over the last 12 months, according to Coinbase.

When you dig into the details of Bitcoin, it’s almost an unbelievable tale about how to create money. Although it seems like fiction, it’s actually the best-known version of digital currency in use today. To help you wrap your head around what it is, what it does and how to earn Bitcoins, I pulled together this complete beginner’s guide to Bitcoin.

Before we go any further I just want to reiterate that investing in cryptocoins or tokens is highly speculative and the market is largely unregulated. Anyone considering it should be prepared to lose their entire investment.

A bit of bitcoin history

Bitcoin was the first established cryptocurrency—a digital asset that is secured with cryptography and can be exchanged like currency. Other versions of cryptocurrency had been launched but never fully developed when Bitcoin became available to the public in 2009. The anonymous Satoshi Nakamoto—possibly an individual or a group whose real identity is still unknown—is behind the development of Bitcoin who stated the goal of the technology was to create “a new electronic cash system” that was “completely decentralized with no server or central authority.” In 2010, someone decided to sell their Bitcoins for the first time to purchase two pizzas for 10,000 Bitcoins. I hope the pizza was good, because if that person would have held onto those Bitcoins, they would be worth more than $100 million today. In 2011, Nakamoto shared the source code and domains with the Bitcoin community and hasn’t been heard from again.

What is Bitcoin, really?

Bitcoin is a digital currency, so there are no coins to mint or bills to print. There is not a government, financial institution or any other authority that controls it, so it’s decentralized. The owners who have Bitcoins in the system are anonymous—there are no account numbers, names, social security numbers or any other identifying features that connect Bitcoins to its owners. Bitcoin uses blockchain technology and encryption keys to connect buyers and sellers. And, just like diamonds or gold, a Bitcoin gets “mined.”

The price of bitcoin was sent plummeting 18% as it and other cryptocurrencies yo-yo in value over fears of a wider trading crackdown spurred by renewed potential of South Korean regulatory action.

Bitcoin’s slide of over over $2,200 triggered a massive selloff across the broader cryptocurrency market, with biggest rival Ethereum down 23% on the day, according to trade website Coinmarketcap, and the next biggest, Ripple, plunging 33%.

Following initial statements that South Korea was looking to ban trading of cryptocurrencies, followed by a climbdown, the country’s finance minister Kim Dong-yeon said in an interview with local radio station TBS that banning trading in digital currencies was “a live option”.

Kim said: “There are no disagreements over regulating speculation,” such as using real-name accounts and levying taxes on cryptocurrency trading. Shutting down digital currency exchanges is “a live option but government ministries need to very seriously review it,” he added.

Q&A

What is bitcoin and is it a bad investment?

Bitcoin is the first, and the biggest, “cryptocurrency” – a decentralised tradable digital asset. Whether it is a bad investment is the big question. Bitcoin can only be used as a medium of exchange and in practice has been far more important for the dark economy than it has for most legitimate uses. The lack of any central authority makes bitcoin remarkably resilient to censorship, corruption – or regulation. That means it has attracted a range of backers, from libertarian monetarists who enjoy the idea of a currency with no inflation and no central bank, to drug dealers who like the fact that it is hard (but not impossible) to trace a bitcoin transaction back to a physical person.

Following the latest news, Bitcoin traded as low as $11,191.59 on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange, down 18% on the day for a short period, putting the digital currency on track for its biggest one-day fall in three years.

“It’s mainly been regulatory issues which are haunting the cryptocurrency, with news around South Korea’s further crackdown on trading the driver today,” said Think Markets chief strategist Naeem Aslam, who holds what he described as “substantial” amounts of bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple. “But we maintain our stance. We do not think that the complete banning of cryptocurrencies is possible.”

Joachim Wuermeling, a director of Germany’s national bank, said on Monday that national rules are likely to prove ineffective given the borderless bitcoin’s global scale. He said: “Effective regulation of virtual currencies would therefore only be achievable through the greatest possible international cooperation, because the regulatory power of nation states is obviously limited.”

European Union states and legislators agreed last month on stricter rules to prevent money laundering and terrorism financing on exchange platforms for bitcoin and other virtual currencies.

Cryptocurrencies enjoyed a bumper year, with bitcoin hitting a high of about $20,000 in 2017 as mainstream investors entered the market and an explosion in ICOs drove demand for bitcoin and Ethereum.

The latest tumble left bitcoin down more than 40% from the record high in mid-December, wiping about $130bn billion off its “market cap” – the unit price multiplied by the total number of bitcoins that have been released into the market.

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A test line of a new energy suspension railway resembling the giant panda is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China

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A test line of a new energy suspension railway, resembling a giant panda, is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China

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A concept car by Trumpchi from GAC Group is shown at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China

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A Mirai fuel cell vehicle by Toyota is displayed at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China

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A visitor tries a Nissan VR experience at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China

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A man looks at an exhibit entitled ‘Mimus’ a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London

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A new Israeli Da-Vinci unmanned aerial vehicle manufactured by Elbit Systems is displayed during the 4th International conference on Home Land Security and Cyber in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv

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Electrification Guru Dr. Wolfgang Ziebart talks about the electric Jaguar I-PACE concept SUV before it was unveiled before the Los Angeles Auto Show in Los Angeles, California, U.S

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The Jaguar I-PACE Concept car is the start of a new era for Jaguar. This is a production preview of the Jaguar I-PACE, which will be revealed next year and on the road in 2018

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Connected company president Shigeki Tomoyama addresses a press briefing as he elaborates on Toyota’s “connected strategy” in Tokyo.
The Connected company is a part of seven Toyota in-house companies that was created in April 2016

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A Toyota Motors employee demonstrates a smartphone app with the company’s pocket plug-in hybrid (PHV) service on the cockpit of the latest Prius hybrid vehicle during Toyota’s “connected strategy” press briefing in Tokyo

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An exhibitor charges the battery cells of AnyWalker, an ultra-mobile chasis robot which is able to move in any kind of environment during Singapore International Robo Expo

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A robot with a touch-screen information apps stroll down the pavillon at the Singapore International Robo Expo

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An exhibitor demonstrates the AnyWalker, an ultra-mobile chasis robot which is able to move in any kind of environment during Singapore International Robo Expo

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Robotic fishes swim in a water glass tank displayed at the Korea pavillon during Singapore International Robo Expo

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An employee shows a Samsung Electronics’ Gear S3 Classic during Korea Electronics Show 2016 in Seoul, South Korea

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Visitors experience Samsung Electronics’ Gear VR during the Korea Electronics Grand Fair at an exhibition hall in Seoul, South Korea

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Amy Rimmer, Research Engineer at Jaguar Land Rover, demonstrates the car manufacturer’s Advanced Highway Assist in a Range Rover, which drives the vehicle, overtakes and can detect vehicles in the blind spot, during the first demonstrations of the UK Autodrive Project at HORIBA MIRA Proving Ground in Nuneaton, Warwickshire

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Chris Burbridge, Autonomous Driving Software Engineer for Tata Motors European Technical Centre, demonstrates the car manufacturer’s GLOSA V2X functionality, which is connected to the traffic lights and shares information with the driver, during the first demonstrations of the UK Autodrive Project at HORIBA MIRA Proving Ground in Nuneaton, Warwickshire

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Ford EEBL Emergency Electronic Brake Lights is demonstrated during the first demonstrations of the UK Autodrive Project at HORIBA MIRA Proving Ground in Nuneaton, Warwickshire

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Miniatures on display at the Space Dome exhibition hall of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Tsukuba Space Center, in Tsukuba, north-east of Tokyo, Japan.
In its facilities, JAXA develop satellites and analyse their observation data, train astronauts for utilization in the Japanese Experiment Module ‘Kibo’ of the International Space Station (ISS) and develop launch vehicles

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The robot developed by Seed Solutions sings and dances to the music during the Japan Robot Week 2016 at Tokyo Big Sight. At this biennial event, the participating companies exhibit their latest service robotic technologies and components

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The robot developed by Seed Solutions sings and dances to music during the Japan Robot Week 2016 at Tokyo Big Sight

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Government and industry are working together on a robot-like autopilot system that could eliminate the need for a second human pilot in the cockpit

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Aurora Flight Sciences’ technicians work on an Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automantion System (ALIAS) device in the firm’s Centaur aircraft at Manassas Airport in Manassas, Va.

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Stefan Schwart and Udo Klingenberg preparing a self-built flight simulator to land at Hong Kong airport, from Rostock, Germany

Jan.17 — Bitcoin steadied after slumping as much as 26% yesterday as proposals for tough new regulations in Asia and Europe weighed on cryptocurrencies. The real threat to Bitcoin’s supremacy may not be from governments. A year ago, Bitcoin made up 90% of the crypto-market and now it’s down to just 36%. As speculators turn away from the breakout star, will rivals continue to erode Bitcoin’s dominance? Bloomberg’s Eric Lam reports on “Bloomberg Markets: European Open.”

Declining Japanese and South Korean trading volumes have been blamed for spooking the market.

Cryptocurrencies surged in 2017 but have been marked by volatility this month.

Nevertheless, the independent financial adviser deVere Group plans to launch a crypto app.

The 10 biggest cryptocurrencies by market capitalisation plunged on Tuesday, with all suffering double-digit percentage losses.

Bitcoin fell more than 25%, crashing through $13,000, $12,000, and $11,000 levels, and is still falling as of writing. The decline appears to have spooked the market, with other coins selling off at the same time. Ethereum dropped 31% to $871.

Fawad Razaqzada, a market analyst with Forex.com, described the sell-off as a “cryptocurrency bloodbath” but said: “Suggestions that this is the start of the demise of cryptos is very premature.”

Cryptocurrencies have experienced a volatile start to 2018 after a huge rally last year.

Crypto prices in these markets typically carry a premium, which pushes up average prices globally. Traders in these Asian markets are generally buyers too, meaning a tail-off in activity could create a big mismatch in buyers and sellers.

“The volumes have been declining steadily both in Japan and South Korea over the last few days,” Greenspan told Business Insider. “This morning, the combined volume from these two top cryptotrading countries dropped below 30%. Looks like they’re tired of overpaying for cryptos and waiting for the market to even out.”

Neil Wilson, a senior analyst at ETX Capital, said in an email on Tuesday morning: “Bitcoin faces a regulatory crunch sooner or later and increasingly we see signs of this starting to bite following South Korea’s tentative plans to ban trading on cryptocurrencies and China’s move to shutter mines. Latest developments suggest more regulatory pressures.

“China is said to be targeting websites and mobile apps that offer exchange-like services, in a bid to block access to platforms that deliver centralised trading on cryptocurrencies. In addition to developments in China, South Korean Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon reiterated on Tuesday that the government is actively considering an outright ban on crypto trading.”

Elsewhere in the cryptocurrency space, deVere Group, an independent financial adviser with $12 billion under advisement, announced plans to launch its own cryptocurrency app. deVere Crypto will let people store, transfer, and exchange five major cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin and ether.

DeVere’s CEO and founder Nigel Green said in a statement: “Traditionalists who declare cryptocurrencies ‘a fad’ are akin to King Canute trying to command the tides of the sea to go back.

“deVere Crypto is designed to meet the growing need and want to store and transfer cryptocurrencies. It’s meeting the evident demand.”

]]>Bitcoin falls more than 7 pct as regulation worriers mounthttp://virtualmining.com/bitcoin-falls-more-than-7-pct-as-regulation-worriers-mount/
Wed, 17 Jan 2018 10:45:24 +0000http://virtualmining.com/bitcoin-falls-more-than-7-pct-as-regulation-worriers-mount/Read more »]]>TOKYO/SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Bitcoin extended its sharp tumble of the past 24 hours, skidding more than seven percent on Wednesday in a rapid downturn in fortunes as investors were spooked by fears regulators might clamp down on an asset whose value has skyrocketed in the past year.

The price of the world’s biggest and best known cryptocurrency fell to as low as $10,567 on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange, not far from its six-week nadir of $10,162 touched the previous day. The session’s high was $11,794.07.

It led the fall in cryptocurrencies, although others such as Ethereum and Ripple, have also slid sharply this week after reports South Korea and China could ban trading, sparking worries of a wider regulatory crackdown.

“Cryptocurrencies could be capped in the current quarter ahead of G20 meeting in March, where policymakers could discuss tighter regulations,” said Shuhei Fujise, chief analyst at Alt Design.

At its lows on Tuesday, bitcoin had fallen 25 percent in the session, its biggest daily decline in four months. It was a far cry from its peak close to $20,000 in December, when the virtual currency had risen nearly 2000 percent over the year.

Tuesday’s decline followed reports that South Korea’s finance minister had said banning trading in cryptocurrencies was still an option and that the government plans a set of measures to clamp down on the “irrational” cryptocurrency investment craze.

Separately, a senior Chinese central banker said authorities should ban centralised trading of virtual currencies as well as individuals and businesses that provide related services.

“Bitcoin is deciding whether this is the moment to crash and burn,” said Steven Englander, head of strategy at New York-based Rafiki Capital.

“My conjecture is that cryptocurrency holders are trying to decide whether to abandon bitcoin because its limitations mean it will be superseded by better products or bet that it can thrive despite them.”

Makoto Sakuma, analyst at Tokyo-based NLI Research Institute, said trading volumes had been low despite the volatility.

“I would say the strong rally in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies we saw last year is over,” he said.

“But while the rally phase is over, I don’t think it is right to say bitcoin is finished.”

Bitcoin futures maturing on Wednesday on the Cboe Global Markets Inc’s Cboe Futures Exchange were at $10,740, with 1,586 contracts traded, after having opened at $10,850. The open interest was 2,895 contracts. The Cboe 14 March 2018 contract was quoted at $11,130.

The futures are cash-settled contracts based on the auction price of bitcoin in U.S. dollars on the Gemini Exchange, which is owned and operated by virtual currency entrepreneurs Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.

The MVIS CryptoCompare Ripple Index, which covers the performance of a digital assets portfolio which invests in Ripple (XRP), a cryptocurrency developed by Ripple Labs, dropped 15 percent to $7,298 on Wednesday.

That equity index has seen a 66 percent slide in its value since the start of the year. Ripple itself was quoted at $1.15 on website CoinMarketCap, down from a high of $3.81 on Jan 4.

“The run-up in bitcoin created a mystique of one-way trading which is being shaken but the pricing requires faith that there will always be demand,” Englander wrote.

“This is far from guaranteed given the existence of alternatives with better characteristics.”

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Wed, 17 Jan 2018 10:45:23 +0000http://virtualmining.com/bitcoin-steadies-after-slump-shakes-global-cryptocurrency-market/Read more »]]>Bitcoin steadied on Wednesday in the wake of a 23 percent plunge that rocked the global market for digital assets and sparked deeper questions about its future.

The world’s biggest cryptocurrency was little changed at $10,599 as of 10:06 a.m. in London. It rebounded as much as 10 percent earlier, after falling to within $50 of the $10,000 level. That buoyed other large cryptocurrencies, with ripple and ethereum also fluctuating between gains and losses.

It’s been a week of reckoning for the cryptomarket, with some $300 billion knocked off its market value in three days. Reports have mounted in various countries of regulators trying to curb an explosion of speculation in digital coins and potential fraud. Meanwhile Bitcoin’s market share is dropping as research increases into rival names — from Bitcoin Cash and Stellar to sub-$1 billion coins like Ox, Qash, even Golem.

“Cryptocurrency holders are trying to decide whether to abandon Bitcoin,” said Steven Englander, head of research and strategy with Rafiki Capital. “The dilemma is that once you stop pricing Bitcoin and its derivatives as new assets that will head to the moon, the pricing model is more conventional and much less breathtaking,” he said in a note to clients.

The selloff has shaken retail investors, who are considered the mainstay of the investing public, as an asset class that has no conventional valuation model is bewildering for those who are looking to buy the dip.

“I have a zen philosophy that you just go with the flow,” said George Tasick, a part-time cryptocurrency trader in Hong Kong whose day job is making fireworks. “I’m not really changing my behavior in any way.”

Speculators across the globe are struggling to determine when or how market watchdogs may rein in an industry that’s decentralized and derives much of its value from anonymous ownership. Many assertions that digital coins represent a bubble have triggered double-digit selloffs over the past year, only to be followed by rebounds.

In South Korea, shutting down cryptocurrency exchanges is still an option amid ongoing discussions, Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon said in an interview with TBS radio Jan. 16. Kim said there’s irrational speculation and that rational regulation was needed.

“It’s going to be very tough in a liberal democracy like South Korea if you have a huge constituent in the population that’s involved” in cryptocurrencies, said Arthur Hayes, chief executive officer of crypto-coin trading platform BitMEX. “How’s the government going to curtail it and still get votes in the next election? It’ll be very interesting to see how that all plays out.”

China, meanwhile, is set to escalate its clampdown on cryptocurrency trading, targeting online platforms and mobile apps that offer exchange-like services, according to people familiar with the matter.

In the U.S., state regulators are becoming more active with BitConnect shuttering its cryptocurrency exchange and lending operation after receiving two cease-and-desist letters from the Texas State Securities Board and North Carolina Secretary of State Securities Division for the unauthorized sale of securities and suffering from denial-of-service attacks.

Hayes said he is telling clients the “extreme” price swings seen in cryptocurrencies are normal and Bitcoin is “not a market that goes up and down in a very measured fashion.”

— With assistance by Benjamin Robertson, and Justina Lee

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Mon, 15 Jan 2018 16:15:20 +0000http://virtualmining.com/bitcoin-miners-have-extracted-80-percent-of-all-the-bitcoins-there-will-ever-be/Read more »]]>

File photo: A man walks past an electric board showing exchange rates of various cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin (top L) at a cryptocurrencies exchange in Seoul, South Korea December 13, 2017. (REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji)

Although bitcoins are bought, sold, and lost more today than ever before, the rate of new bitcoins being created is starting to slow. The reasons behind that are a little complex, but suffice it to say, the closer we get to the 21 million maximum number of bitcoins mined, the harder it gets and we’ve just hit the 80 percent milestone.

Even if you’re only just coming to grips with this whole cryptocurrency phenomenon, or have been trading them since the days where they were worth just a few dollars each, bitcoin has been mined for far longer. Its creator, the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto, mined the first bitcoin block in its blockchain back in 2009, rewarding him with 50 bitcoins. Earlier this month, miners extracted the 16,800,000th bitcoin, which is significant, because it means there are only 20 percent of all the bitcoin there will ever be to go.

The self-imposed scarcity of bitcoin is one of the reasons it has become so valuable in recent months and proponents of the flagship cryptocurrency believe that that will help propel it to new heights over the next few years. Although there are many detractors of bitcoin, claiming that its scaling issues and ballooning transaction costs make it a difficult cryptocurrency to support long-term, it has proven to be the best store of value of all 1,300-plus coins so far, as per Bitcoin.com.

Other cryptocurrencies that are in vogue, like ethereum, have no cap on their number, meaning that new Ether and similar will be produced as long as people see it as a worthwhile practice to pour their computational cycles into making it. Considering that’s also required for transactions to be completed, it’s important that it continues into the future.

As for bitcoin, as the difficulty of mining the last coins continues to increase and the rewards, in turn, are reduced, the rate of new coins being created will continue to slow. Although it’s hard to make any concrete estimations on the eventual date of the last bitcoin being mined due to the unpredictable nature of mining hardware development, some estimations put it as far in the future as the year 2140 — long after all existing investors are gone. Here’s hoping we’ve spent at least a few of our coins before then.